Sewer drain elevation assembly

ABSTRACT

A sewer drain elevation assembly includes a sewer drain that is embedded into a roadway. A grate is removably positionable on the sewer drain to inhibit debris from passing through the sewer drain. The grate would be spaced downwardly from a resurfaced driving surface of the roadway after the roadway is resurfaced thereby posing a hazard to traffic and pedestrians. A pair of inserts is provided and each of the inserts is positionable between the grate and the sewer drain after the roadway is resurfaced. Thus, each of the inserts lifts the grate to align the grate with the resurfaced driving surface of the roadway after the roadway is resurfaced.

(b) CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Not Applicable

(c) STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

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(d) THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT

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(e) INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC OR AS A TEXT FILE VIA THE OFFICE ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM

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(f) STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR JOINT INVENTOR

Not Applicable

(g) BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION (1) Field of the Invention (2) Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98

The disclosure and prior art relates to elevation devices and more particularly pertains to a new elevation device for PURPOSE.

(h) BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a sewer drain that is embedded into a roadway. A grate is removably positioned on the sewer drain to inhibit debris from passing through the sewer drain. The grate is spaced downwardly from a driving surface of the roadway when the roadway is resurfaced thereby posing a hazard to traffic and pedestrians. A pair of inserts is provided and each of the inserts is positioned between the grate and the sewer drain when the roadway is resurfaced. Thus, each of the inserts lifts the grate to align the grate with the driving surface of the roadway when the roadway is resurfaced.

There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.

The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.

(i) BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)

The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a top perspective view of a plurality of inserts of a sewer drain elevation assembly according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a front view of an insert of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of an insert and spacers of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a cut-away view of an embodiment of the disclosure after a roadway has been resurfaced.

FIG. 6 is a cut-away view of an embodiment of the disclosure showing inserts being installed after a roadway has been resurfaced.

(j) DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to FIGS. 1 through 6 thereof, a new elevation device embodying the principles and concepts of an embodiment of the disclosure and generally designated by the reference numeral 10 will be described.

As best illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 6, the sewer drain elevation assembly 10 generally comprises a sewer drain 12 that is embedded into a roadway 14. The sewer drain 12 may be part of a city sewer system or the like and the roadway 14 may be a street in a city or the like. The sewer drain 12 includes a frame 16 that has a pair of first members 18. Each of the first members 18 has a top surface 20 that is aligned with a driving surface 22 of the roadway 14. Moreover, the top surface 20 corresponding to each of the first members 18 has a recess 24 therein. The sewer drain 12 may be a sewer drain of any conventional design that conforms to local and national building codes. The top surface 20 corresponding to each of the first members 18 is spaced downwardly from the driving surface 22 of the roadway 14 when the roadway 14 is resurfaced with asphalt or the like in order to accomplish repairs on the roadway 14 or the like.

A grate 24 is removably positioned on the sewer drain 12 to inhibit debris from passing through the sewer drain 12. The grate 24 has a top surface 26 and a bottom surface 28 and the bottom surface 28 is positioned in the recess 24 in each of the first members 18 of the frame 16 when the grate 24 is positioned on the sewer drain 12. Moreover, the top surface 26 of the grate 24 is aligned with the top surface 20 of the first members 18 when the grate 24 is positioned in the recess 24. In this way the top surface 26 of the grate 24 is aligned with the driving surface 22 of the roadway 14 thereby facilitating a smooth transition between the driving surface 22 and the top surface 20 of the grate 24. The top surface 20 of the grate 24 is spaced downwardly from the driving surface 22 of the roadway 14 when the roadway 14 is resurfaced thereby posing a hazard to traffic and pedestrians.

A pair of inserts 29 is provided and each of the inserts 29 is positioned between the grate 24 and the sewer drain 12 when the roadway 14 is resurfaced. In this way each of the inserts 29 lifts the gate to align the grate 24 with the driving surface 22 of the roadway 14 when the roadway 14 is resurfaced. Each of the inserts 29 may be comprised of a high density plastic or the like such that each of the inserts 29 resists being deformed by the grate 24 and resists corrosion. Each of the inserts 29 has a first end 30, a second end 32 and an outer surface 34 extending therebetween. The outer surface 34 corresponding to each of the inserts 29 has a top side 36 and a bottom side 38. Additionally, each of the inserts 29 may be manufactured to have a length that corresponds to the length of the first members 18.

The top side 36 corresponding to each of the inserts 29 has a first groove 40 extending downwardly towards the bottom side 38. The first groove 40 extends between the first end 30 and the second end 32 and the first groove 40 has a horizontal bounding surface 42. The bottom side 38 corresponding to each of the inserts 29 has a second groove 44 extending upwardly towards the top side 36. The second groove 44 extends between the first end 30 and the second end 32 and the second groove 44 has a horizontal bounding surface 46. Additionally, the second groove 44 is offset with respect to the first groove 40.

The horizontal bounding surface 42 of the second groove 44 lies on the top surface 20 of an associated one of the first members 18 of the sewer drain 12. In this way the horizontal bounding surface 42 of the first groove 40 is spaced upwardly from and is aligned with the recess 24 in the associated first member 18. The bottom surface 28 of the grate 24 lies on the horizontal bounding surface 42 of the first groove 40 such that the grate 24 is spaced upwardly from the recess 24 in each of the first members 18 of the frame 16. In this way the top surface 20 of the grate 24 is aligned with the driving surface 22 of the roadway 14 when the roadway 14 is resurfaced. Moreover, the inserts 29 facilitate the top surface 20 of the grate 24 to be re-aligned with the driving surface 22 without requiring excavation and replacement projects with respect to the sewer drain 12. As shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of spacers 48 may be provided and a selected number of the spacers 48 may be attached to the bottom side 38 of the inserts 29. Thus, the grate 24 may be lifted a selected height to match the height of the driving surface 22.

In use, the grate 24 is removed from the sewer drain 12 when resurfacing of the roadway 14 has been finished. Each of the inserts 29 is positioned on the associated first member of the sewer drain 12. The grate 24 is positioned on each of the inserts 29 thereby spacing the grate 24 from the first members 18 to align the top surface 20 of the grate 24 with the driving surface 22. In this way a smooth transition is accomplished between the driving surface 22 and the top surface 20 of the grate 24 when the roadway 14 is resurfaced without requiring excavation and replacement of the sewer drain 12.

With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.

Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements. 

1. A sewer drain elevation assembly being configured to elevate a sewer drain to be flush with a newly installed roadway, said assembly comprising: a sewer drain being embedded into a roadway; a grate being removably positionable on said sewer drain to inhibit debris from passing through said sewer drain, said grate being spaced downwardly from a resurfaced driving surface of the roadway when the roadway is resurfaced thereby posing a hazard to traffic and pedestrians; and a pair of inserts, each of said inserts being elongated and straight, each of said inserts being positionable between said grate and said sewer drain after the roadway is resurfaced wherein each of said inserts is configured to align said grate with the resurfaced driving surface of the roadway after the roadway is resurfaced, each of said inserts having a first end, a second end and an outer surface extending therebetween, said outer surface corresponding to each of said inserts having a top side and a bottom side, said top side corresponding to each of said inserts having a first cutout defining a first groove extending downwardly towards said bottom side, said first groove extending between said first end and said second end, said first groove having a horizontal bounding surface, said bottom side corresponding to each of said inserts being a continuous planar surface having a cutout along an edge of said planar surface defining a second groove extending upwardly towards said top side, said second groove extending between said first end and said second end, said second groove having a horizontal bounding surface, said second groove being offset with respect to said first groove.
 2. The assembly according to claim 1, wherein said sewer drain includes a frame having a pair of first members, each of said first members having a top surface being aligned with an existing driving surface of the roadway, said top surface corresponding to each of said first members having a recess therein, said top surface corresponding to each of said first members being spaced downwardly from the resurfaced driving surface of the roadway after the roadway is resurfaced.
 3. (canceled)
 4. (canceled)
 5. (canceled)
 6. (canceled)
 7. The assembly according to claim 1, wherein: said sewer drain includes a pair of first members, each of said first members having a recess therein; and said horizontal bounding surface of said second groove lies on said top surface of an associated one of said first members of said sewer drain, said bottom surface of said grate lying on said horizontal bounding surface of said first groove such that said grate is spaced upwardly from said recess in each of said members of said frame thereby aligning said grate with the resurfaced driving surface of the roadway after the roadway is resurfaced.
 8. A sewer drain elevation assembly being configured to elevate a sewer drain to be flush with a newly installed roadway, said assembly comprising: a sewer drain being embedded into a roadway, said sewer drain including a frame having a pair of first members, each of said first members having a top surface being aligned with an initial driving surface of the roadway, said top surface corresponding to each of said first members having a recess therein, said top surface corresponding to each of said first members being spaced downwardly from a resurfaced driving surface of the roadway when the roadway is resurfaced; a grate being removably positionable on said sewer drain to inhibit debris from passing through said sewer drain, said grate having a top surface and a bottom surface, said bottom surface being positioned in said recess in each of said first members of said frame when said grate is positioned on said sewer drain prior to resurfacing of the roadway, said top surface of said grate being aligned with said top surface of said first members when said grate is positioned in said recess such that said top surface of said grate is aligned with the initial driving surface of the roadway, said top surface of said grate being spaced downwardly from the resurfaced driving surface of the roadway when the roadway is resurfaced thereby posing a hazard to traffic and pedestrians; and a pair of inserts, each of said inserts being positionable between said grate and said sewer drain after the roadway is resurfaced wherein each of said inserts is configured to align said top surface of said grate with the resurfaced driving surface of the roadway after the roadway is resurfaced, each of said inserts having a first end, a second end and an outer surface extending therebetween, said outer surface corresponding to each of said inserts having a top side and a bottom side, said top side corresponding to each of said inserts having a first groove extending downwardly towards said bottom side, said first groove extending between said first end and said second end, said first groove having a horizontal bounding surface, said bottom side corresponding to each of said inserts being a continuous planar surface having a cutout along an edge of said planar surface defining a second groove extending upwardly towards said top side, said second groove extending between said first end and said second end, said second groove having a horizontal bounding surface, said second groove being offset with respect to said first groove, said horizontal bounding surface of said second groove lying on said top surface of an associated one of said first members of said sewer drain, said bottom surface of said grate lying on said horizontal bounding surface of said first groove such that said grate is spaced upwardly from said recess in each of said members of said frame thereby aligning said top surface of said grate with the resurfaced driving surface of the roadway after the roadway is resurfaced. 